Google celebrates Ingenuity helicopter's flight on Mars with a special Easter egg animation

As a historic feat to its name, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pulled off its first controlled flight on another planet on 19 April. The Mars helicopter - Ingenuity, made history when it took off into thin air on the planet. In order to celebrate the occasion, Google came up with a unique and special tribute on its homepage. They created an exciting new animation on its official page to celebrate NASA’s achievement. [caption id=“attachment_9545441” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this shot while hovering over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. Image credit: NASA[/caption] If you want to check out the surprise on your screen, then run a Google search for ‘Ingenuity NASA’. A small and animated version of ‘Ingenuity,’ which is orange in colour, will appear on the screen. Meanwhile, as you click on it and the surface of Mars appears at the bottom of the screen. Even the little helicopter will buzz around on top of the search results. Sharing a video of the Google Search Ingenuity animation, NASA wrote: “Do you like fun things? Type “Ingenuity NASA” in a @Google search for a #MarsHelicopter surprise”. NASA further pointed out the fun on Twitter saying the Easter egg appears to be working in most browsers, both mobile and desktop.

Do you like fun things? Type "Ingenuity NASA" in a @Google search for a #MarsHelicopter surprise. 🚁 pic.twitter.com/9EK8qdraLC

— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021

While Google shared a GIF of the animated Ingenuity and tweeted, “Ten vertical feet for a helicopter, one giant leap for space exploration. Congrats NASA Mars Helicopter on an amazing first flight!”

Ten vertical feet for a helicopter, one giant leap for space exploration. Congrats @NASA #MarsHelicopter on an amazing first flight! https://t.co/z4eNcema10 pic.twitter.com/z0oxvNNbKv

— Google (@Google) April 19, 2021

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As soon as this broke headlines, people on Twitter shared their excitement of having the virtual helicopter hover around the screen. With this big experiment, NASA has proven that flight in the thin atmosphere of Mars is possible.